As shown by census results, between 1989 and 2004 the population in Transnistria decreased by 18%.[1] This is significantly higher than the decrease of population in the Republic of Moldova (which was 6%, for the same period [2]).

Data issued by Transnistrian authorities show that of the 555,500 inhabitants, a total of 394,861 are registered to vote, down 5.6% from a year earlier.[3]

There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. Western organizations, such as the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in the region under the present circumstances[clarification needed] and have refused to even monitor them[citation needed].

A team of Russian journalists from Moldova who covered the December 2006 explained that it was "interesting that the position is not a fear of authority, with pressure from government" but that people vote voluntarily because Chişinău, the capital of Moldova, is not an appealing alternative. According to Chişinău-based Vremea, there is now a whole generation of people in Transnistria who see Chişinău only as something negative.[4]

In August 2006, one month before the referendum against reintegration in Moldova, 4 members of pro-Moldovan NGO "Dignitas" from Slobozia were brought in for questioning by Transnistrian law enforcement as part of an investigation into a bus explosion which had taken place three days earlier and which killed two people. They were released after few days in custody, no charges being made against them.[5]

In November 2006, the Moldovan press reported that the offices of the Rîbniţa district committee of the Communist Party in Transnistria were closed by the local Transnistrian authorities.[6] The Communist Party of Moldova condemned the act and claims it was closed under false pretenses.[7]

Some parties and publications were banned. People's Power Party led by Supreme Soviet member Alexander Radchenko was banned in May 2001; after an appeal the ban was lifted but was reintroduced in December 2001, again the ban was lifted to be reintroduced in August 2002 and confirmed by the "Supreme Court" in December 2002.[8]

"Power to the People" Party led by Nicolae Butchatsky was banned in February 2002.[9]

On November 14, 2001, the Transnistrian customs service banned the distribution of the publication "Glas Naroda", as it contained Radchenko's electoral platform. Radchenko said in a press conference that "Glas Naroda" has been published outside Transnistria because all the printing houses had refused to print it after having discussed the issue with representatives of the Ministry of State Security.[10]

Election results have been contested by some, as in 2001 in one region an undisclosed source reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes.[11] Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic.

Comparison between Moldova's and Transnistria's political system[edit]

While Transnistria has a strongly centralized political system, with the president being also the head of government and having the right to appoint the heads of local (rayonal) administrations, in Moldova the prime minister, elected by the parliament, is the head of government and the heads of rayonal administrations are established by the rayonal councils resulted from local elections.

In Transnistria, the president is elected directly, while in Moldova, the president is elected by the parliament, the political structure of Moldova being a parliamentary republic.

The number of Transnistrian holding Moldovan citizenship is disputed. According to the Moldovan government, 400,000 Transnistrians have Moldovan citizenship,[12] which would be the majority of the population and would exceed by a wide margin the amount of ethnic Moldovans living in Transnistria. However, 2004 Transnistrian census data puts the official number of Transnistrians with Moldovan citizenship at 107,600 people (19.4% of respondents).[13]

Transnistria does not allow the organisation of Moldovan elections in Transnistrian territory, just like Moldova does not allow the organisation of Transnistrian elections in Moldovan territory. Polling stations were organised only in those areas of Transnistria under Moldovan government control.

Political parties from Moldova have organisations in Transnistria[14] but refuse to participate in elections organized by the de facto Republic. They participate only in the elections of the Republic of Moldova.

In 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections nine special polling stations were organised near the Dniester for "guest voters" coming from Transnistria who wished to vote in the Moldovan elections. Around 8000 citizens voted there, who were included in supplementary voter rolls. In those special polling stations results were: 30% for Communist Party of Moldova (compared with 46% in entire Moldova), 50% for Democratic Moldova Bloc (28.5% in entire Moldova), 8% for Christian-Democratic Party (9.1% in entire Moldova) and 6% for each Social Democratic Party and Patria-Rodina Bloc. Due to large turnout of Transnistrian voters queues were formed and some voters didn't manage to vote. As claimed by the Coalition for Free and Democratic Elections, many Transnistrian voters were not informed properly about the place of the voting and some owners of Soviet passports which don't bear the mention "citizen of Moldova" were not allowed to vote.[15]

1.
Transnistria
–
The region is considered by the UN to be part of Moldova. The PMR controls a narrow strip of territory to the east of the River Dniester, unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status, or Stînga Nistrului. As part of agreement, a three-party Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarised zone. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem and it is the only country still using the hammer and sickle on its flag. After a 2005 agreement between Moldova and Ukraine, all Transnistrian companies that seek to export goods through the Ukrainian border must be registered with the Moldovan authorities and this agreement was implemented after the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine took force in 2005. Most Transnistrians also have Moldovan citizenship, but many Transnistrians also have Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, the largest ethnic group is Moldovans, who historically had a higher share of the population, up to 49. 4% in 1926. Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia are post-Soviet frozen conflict zones and these four partially recognised states maintain friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations. The region is known in English as Trans-Dniestr or Transdniestria. Etymologically, these names are adaptations of the Romanian colloquial name of the region, the documents of the government of Moldova refer to the region as Stînga Nistrului meaning Left Bank of the Dniester. The name of the according to the Transnistrian authorities is Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The short form of name is Pridnestrovie. Pridnestrovie is a transliteration of the Russian Приднестровье meaning by the Dniester, indo-European tribes had for millennia inhabited the area where Transnistria now is when it was a borderland between Dacia and Scythia. The Tyragetae inhabited the area around the River Dniester as well as the Scythians, early Germanic and Turkic tribes were present in the area during their attacks and invasions of the Roman Empire. From 56 AD, the area around the city of Tyras was occupied by the Romans for nearly four centuries. Tyras enjoyed great development during Roman times, there is a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus, but in the second half of the fourth century the area was continuously attacked by barbarians and the Roman legionaries left Tyras. In the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribes of Tivertsi and Ulichs populated larger areas, including Transnistria, followed by Turkic nomads such as the Petchenegs and Cumans. Possibly an early part of Kievan Rus, after the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241, prince of Moldavia George Ducas built a court at Țicanova on the east bank of the Dniester, and one at Nimirov on the Southern Bug, last mentioned in Moldavian hands in 1765. The localities Dubăsari, Rașcov, Vasilcău, as well as four other currently in Ukraine are mentioned in 17th–18th centuries as fairs for the Dniester-Bug region

2.
President of Transnistria
–
The President of Transnistria is the highest elected official of Transnistria, a small unrecognized country which declared independence from Moldova in 1990. The president of the republic is the head of state and is also commander in chief of its armed forces. As per the Constitution of Transnistria, he represents the country abroad. The current President is Vadim Krasnoselsky, since 16 December 2016 and he was elected in the 2016 election. Politics of Transnistria Prime Minister of Transnistria Official PMR presidential site Unofficial presidential website

3.
Supreme Council (Transnistria)
–
The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is the parliament of Transnistria. The unicameral legislature consists of 43 seats, all of which are determined by single mandate constituencies and it is headed by a chairman. As Transnistria was not a region before the declaration of its independence. This meant that all government authorities had to be formed from scratch, Igor Smirnov was elected chairman of the Provisional Supreme Council in March 1990. After Smirnov was elected Chairman of the Republic on 29 November 1990 he was succeeded by Vladimir Gonchar, on 25 November 1990, the first legislative elections to the Supreme Council of PMR took place in Transnistria. The first Supreme Council was bicameral, it consisted of two chambers - the Council of the Republic and the Council of Nationalities, the Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 64 deputies. On 30 January 1991, the Supreme Council elected native-born Transnistrian of Moldovan origin Grigore Mărăcuţă as its chairman, after referendum in 1995 and the adoption of the second Constitution of Transnistria, the composition of the Supreme Council changed. The Council of the Republic was replaced by the Chamber of Legislators, the second Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 67 deputies. Elections to the second Supreme Council took place on 24 December 1995, in 2000 amendments were made in the Constitution of PMR leading to new change in the organization of the Supreme Council. It became unicameral and consisted of 43 deputies, until 2005, the chairman of the parliament was Grigore Mărăcuţă, but following the election victory of the opposition party Renewal the new chairman became Renewal party leader Yevgeny Shevchuk. In 2009, President Igor Smirnov set up a commission to draft a new constitution, on 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned as speaker and was succeeded by Russian-born ethnic Ukrainian Anatoly Kaminski, also from the Renewal party. Shevchuk cited the proposed constitution as a major factor as to why he resigned. He defeated both Smirnov and his former colleague Kaminski in the 2011 presidential elections, following his defeat in the elections Kaminski resigned both as speaker and as head of the Renewal party. He was succeeded by Mikhail Burla, an ethnic Ukrainian, most of the members of parliament are native-born Transnistrians. According to official PMR data,22 of the 43 members of the parliament were born in PMR, while four were born in Moldova, seven were born in Russia, six in Ukraine and four did not declare. Igor Smirnov Vladimir Gonchar Grigore Mărăcuţă Yevgeny Shevchuk Anatoly Kaminski Mikhail Burla Vadim Krasnoselski Official website Parliament summary

4.
Government of Transnistria
–
Transnistria is headed by a president, the current president is Yevgeny Shevchuk. They are served by a cabinet of ministers, which is headed by the Prime Minister, Transnistria uses a semi-presidential system, where the president is head of state and the prime minister is head of government. Transnistria used to have a president, but this position was abolished after the 2011 elections. The last vice president was Aleksandr Korolyov, source, The Supreme Council or Supreme Soviet is the parliament of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Government of Moldova Politics of Transnistria Politics of Moldova Government of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic

5.
Politics of Transnistria
–
Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, formally, Transnistria has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament, called the Supreme Council. The president is elected by popular vote, political parties from Moldova do not recognize the Transnistrian government and do not participate at elections organized by it. As shown by results, between 1989 and 2004 the population in Transnistria decreased by 18%. This is significantly higher than the decrease of population in the Republic of Moldova, data issued by Transnistrian authorities show that of the 555,500 inhabitants, a total of 394,861 are registered to vote, down 5. 6% from a year earlier. There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free, western organizations, such as the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in the region under the present circumstances and have refused to even monitor them. According to Chişinău-based Vremea, there is now a whole generation of people in Transnistria who see Chişinău only as something negative and they were released after few days in custody, no charges being made against them. In November 2006, the Moldovan press reported that the offices of the Rîbniţa district committee of the Communist Party in Transnistria were closed by the local Transnistrian authorities, the Communist Party of Moldova condemned the act and claims it was closed under false pretenses. Some parties and publications were banned, power to the People Party led by Nicolae Butchatsky was banned in February 2002. On November 14,2001, the Transnistrian customs service banned the distribution of the publication Glas Naroda, election results have been contested by some, as in 2001 in one region an undisclosed source reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103. 6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic, in Transnistria, the president is elected directly, while in Moldova, the president is elected by the parliament, the political structure of Moldova being a parliamentary republic. The number of Transnistrian holding Moldovan citizenship is disputed, however,2004 Transnistrian census data puts the official number of Transnistrians with Moldovan citizenship at 107,600 people. Transnistria does not allow the organisation of Moldovan elections in Transnistrian territory, polling stations were organised only in those areas of Transnistria under Moldovan government control. Political parties from Moldova have organisations in Transnistria but refuse to participate in elections organized by the de facto Republic and they participate only in the elections of the Republic of Moldova. In 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections nine special polling stations were organised near the Dniester for guest voters coming from Transnistria who wished to vote in the Moldovan elections, around 8000 citizens voted there, who were included in supplementary voter rolls. Due to large turnout of Transnistrian voters queues were formed and some voters didnt manage to vote

6.
Transnistrian presidential election, 2011
–
A presidential election was held in Transnistria on 11 December 2011. A run-off was held on 25 December 2011, incumbent president Igor Smirnov, running for re-election, had been in power since Transnistria declared independence in 1990, and was not term-limited. Candidate registration was open from 11 September to 11 November, on 14 September, opposition MP and former speaker of the Supreme Council Yevgeny Shevchuk was the first to nominate himself at the CEC. Shevchuk is affiliated with Renewal, who are already supporting Kaminski, Shevchuk had been followed by Pridnestrovie Communist Party chairman and MP Oleg Khorzhan, as well as newspaper editor Andrey Safonov, who was also a candidate in the 2006 election. On 28 September, Breakthrough founder and MP Dmitry Soin also nominated himself as a candidate, first round An exit poll taken showed Smirnov in the lead with 47. 38%, with opposition vote split between Shevchuk and Kaminski. Transnistrian law requires a majority to be elected, meaning a round would be necessary. After the election, the incumbent Smirnov called for the results to be scrapped due to irregularities, announcement of results was postponed from 12 December to 14 December. Preliminary results showed that Smirnov was only in place with 25. 5%, with Shevchuk at 39%. Kaminski is reportedly Russias preferred candidate, run-off A run-off was held on December 25 and according to a source in the Central Election Commission of Transnistria quoted by RIA Novosti Shevchuk won it after garnering 74% of the votes. His rival Anatoliy Kaminskiy received only 20% and acknowledged his defeat

7.
Transnistrian legislative election, 2010
–
A legislative election was held in Transnistria on 12 December 2010. All 43 seats of the Supreme Council of Transnistria were up for election, Transnistria uses first past the post with 43 single seat constituencies. In preparation for the election, boundaries of the constituencies were reviewed and revised in September 2010. The Supreme Council passed a resolution on 27 October to invite international observers to monitor the election, observers present included representatives from Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Germany and Poland. According to official data,22 of the 43 members of its parliament were born on the territory of PMR, according to the results, overall turnout was 43%, with Constituency #11 reporting 70. 1%, the highest in the country. In this district, Sheriff founder Ilya Kazmaly swept the vote, the lowest turnout was in Constituency #2, with 29. 3%. Results for 42 constituencies were announced on 13 December, with one recount going on, in Constituency #27. The election here was won by Oleg Vasilaty, who took 35. 84% of the vote, only more than the number of votes against all. According to the results, Renewal has won the election. Yevgeny Shevchuk, Mikhail Burla and Anatoliy Kaminski, leaders of Renewal, were among those elected, the Pridnestrovie Communist Party got its first seat in parliament after its leader Oleg Khorzhan was elected in Constituency #40, defeating Renewal deputy leader Olga Gukalenko. The Supreme Council held its first session in the new composition on 29 December 2010, in this session, Anatoly Kaminski was re-elected as speaker

8.
Referendums in Transnistria
–
Referendums in Transnistria, according to the Transnistrian Constitution, are one of the lawful forms of expression of peoples will. There have been seven referendums in Transnistria since 1989, because of strict requirements only six of these seven referendums were successful. 95. 8% voted in favor of the creation of the PMSSR, on March 17,1991, the Soviet Unions Union-wide referendum was held on the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form. Although Moldova boycotted the referendum, it was observed by the authorities of Transnistria, as in other parts of the Soviet Union where the referendum was held, a majority of the voters supported the retention of the renewed Soviet Union. December 1,1991, was held the first referendum on independence of the now-renamed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic outside the Soviet Union. Voter turnout was 78%, and 97. 7% voted in favor of full independence,26 March 1995, was held a referendum asking the populated about the permanence within Transnistrias borders of remaining troops from the former 14th Russian Army. More than 90% supported a stay of Russian troops in Transnistria,24 December 1995, was held the constitutional referendum on the adoption of Transnistrias new 1995 Constitution and request for accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States. 81. 8% approved the new constitution which declared independence from Moldova, april 6,2003 was held the constitutional referendum on the introduction of private land ownership. This was ruled invalid, since voter turnout was less than the 50% required by law, september 17,2006 was held the second independence referendum of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Voter turnout was 78. 6%, substantially more than the 50%+1 required by law to validate the referendum, yes,3. 3% - No,94. 9% - Invalid/undecided,1. 8% History of creation and development of the Parliament of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic

9.
Political status of Transnistria
–
This declaration sought to establish a Soviet Socialist Republic separate from the Moldavian SSR, while still part of the Soviet Union. No United Nations member country recognizes the PMRs bid to sovereignty, Moldova lost de facto control of Transnistria in 1992, in the wake of the War of Transnistria. Since that time, the PMR has received recognition only from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The two main parties in Transnistria, the Republican Party and Renewal oppose any rapprochement with Chişinău. Only three polities recognize Transnistrias sovereignty, which are themselves largely unrecognized states, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. All four states are members of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, although ethnic Moldavians have historically made up a large minority of the population, the area was never considered part of the traditional lands of Moldavian settlement. By this time, the Principality of Moldavia had been in existence for almost five hundred years with the Dniester marking its boundary for all this time. The national poet Mihai Eminescu, in his famous poem Doina, indeed, between 1929 and 1940, Tiraspol was the capital of the Moldavian ASSR, an autonomous republic within Ukrainian SSR, which existed from 1924 to 1940. According to PMR advocates, the territory to the East of the Dniester River never belonged either to Romania, nor to its predecessors and this territory was split off from the Ukrainian SSR in a political maneuver of the USSR to become a seed of the Moldavian SSR. In 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR was proclaimed in the region by a number of conservative local Soviet officials opposed to perestroika and this action was immediately declared void by the then president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. At the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova became independent, the Moldovan Declaration of Independence denounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and declared the 2 August 1940 Law of the USSR on the establishment of the Moldavian SSR null and void. A2010 study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder showed that the majority of Transnistrias population supports the separation from Moldova. The Republic of Moldova considers itself the successor state to the Moldavian SSR. By the principle of integrity, Moldova claims that any form of secession from the state without the consent of the central Moldovan government is illegal. It considers the current Transnistria-based PMR government to be illegitimate and not the rightful representative of the regions population, the Moldovan side insists that Transnistria cannot exist as an independent political entity and must be reintegrated into Moldova. However, it should be noted that, due to Transnistrias limited recognition as a state, therefore, it is possible that many Transnistrians possess a Moldovan passport for practical reasons, rather than as an expression of wishing to reunify with Moldova. These localities are, commune Cocieri, commune Molovata Nouă, commune Corjova, commune Coşniţa, commune Pîrîta, the village of Corjova is in fact divided between PMR and Moldovan central government areas of control. Roghi is also controlled by the PMR authorities, at the same time, some areas which are situated on the right bank of the Dniester are under PMR control

10.
International recognition of Transnistria
–
International recognition of Transnistria – a disputed region in Eastern Europe located between Moldova and Ukraine – is controversial. Although Transnistria declared independence in 1990, no United Nations member recognises its sovereignty, as of 2011, only Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and South Ossetia recognise its independence, all themselves states with limited recognition. Despite not officially recognizing Transnistrias independence, Russia has established a consulate in the disputed territory, in 1990, a Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR was proclaimed in the region by a number of conservative local Soviet officials opposed to perestroika. This action was declared void by the then president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova, including Transnistria, the PMR side said Moldovas declaration of independence was ill-conceived and that it considers the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be null and void. During the 1992 War of Transnistria some villages changed hands between the PMR government and Moldova proper, PMR forces have often clashed with Moldovas representatives. Government documents from Transnistria state that the republic has established and maintained relations with countries seeking recognition. It sought to have relations with foreign countries and international organizations, especially those of Europe. The pro-European orientation was a consequence of an understanding of fundamental values of the world civilization. A lot of Pridnestrovian foreign interests lie in this area, the importance of a harmonic inclusion of Pridnestrovie into the international democratic community makes necessary an active cooperation. Transnistrias goal was to rest on the European experience in the future for its political, economic, scientific and technical. Transnistria is member state of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, the government of Moldova does not actively prevent or seek to prevent representatives of other states from interacting with the government of Transnistria. List of states with limited recognition Kosovo independence precedent List of diplomatic missions of Transnistria List of diplomatic missions in Transnistria Foreign relations of Transnistria

11.
Transnistria War
–
Fighting intensified on 1 March 1992 and, alternating with ad hoc ceasefires, lasted throughout the spring and early summer of 1992 until a ceasefire was declared on 21 July 1992, which has held. The conflict remained unresolved, but in 2011 talks were held under the auspices of the Organization for Security, however, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the territorial changes resulting from it have remained in place. It represents slightly more than one tenth of Moldovas territory, in the Moldavian SSR, as in many other parts of the Soviet Union, national movements became the leading political force. According to John Mackinlay and Peter Cross, who conducted a study based on casualty reports and they suggest that the conflict is more political in nature. On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR enacted two laws, one of them made Moldovan the official language, in lieu of Russian, the de facto official language of the Soviet Union. It also mentioned a linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity, the second law stipulated the return to the Latin Romanian alphabet. Moldovan language is the used in the former Soviet Union for a virtually identical dialect of the Romanian language during 1940–1989. On 27 April 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted the tricolour flag with the Moldavian coat of arms and changed the national anthem to Deșteaptă-te. The national anthem of Romania since 1989, later that year the words Soviet and Socialist were dropped and the name of the country was changed to Republic of Moldova. This possibility caused fears among the Russian-speaking population that it would be excluded from most aspects of public life, from September 1989, there were strong scenes of protests in the region against the central governments ethnic policies. The language laws presented a particularly volatile issue as a proportion of the non-Moldovan population of the Moldavian SSR did not speak Moldovan. The problem of the language in the MSSR had become a Gordian knot, being exaggerated and, perhaps. Some described the laws as discriminatory and criticized their rapid implementation. Others, on the contrary, complained the laws were not followed, on 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, Pridnestrovie being the name for Transnistria in Russian. On 22 December 1990 president Gorbachev signed a decree that declared void the decisions of the Second Congress of People Deputies of Transnistria from 2 September, for two months, Moldovan authorities refrained from taking action against this proclamation. Transnistria became one of the republics that appeared throughout the USSR, alongside Abkhazia, South Ossetia. These unrecognized states maintained close ties with each other, the first clash between the Moldovan government and separatists occurred on 3 November 1990 in Dubăsari. A police detachment was dispatched to clear a roadblock placed by the city residents on the bridge over the river Dniester that effectively cut the city off from the central government, in the resulting shootout, three residents of Dubăsari were killed, the first casualties of the conflict

12.
Human rights in Transnistria
–
The state of affairs with human rights in Transnistria has been criticized by several governments and international organizations. The Republic of Moldova, and other states and non-governmental organizations claim that the government of Transnistria is authoritarian and has a record of arbitrary arrest and torture. With the stated aim of rectifying its human rights record and bringing it in line with European standards, in July 2007 the European Parliament, in a decision without juridical power, condemned the “strict and frequent” violation of human rights by the Transnistrian separatist authorities. According to an U. S. Department of State report referring to year 2006, authorities reportedly continued to use torture and arbitrary arrest and detention. In Transnistria authorities limited freedom of speech and of the press, authorities usually did not permit free assembly. In the separatist region of Transnistria the authorities continued to deny registration, the separatist region remained a significant source and transit area for trafficking in persons. Homosexuality was illegal, and gays and lesbians were subject to governmental and societal discrimination, several alleged crimes by the paramilitary forces of the Transnistrian government remained uninvestigated. The chairman of the Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights claimed that 20 people were killed in the village of Chiţcani,5 km south of Tiraspol, between 1996 and 2000. He said that no government authority investigated these deaths because Moldova has no access to the village, According to a human rights report by the US Department of State, prisons in Transnistria are said to be harsh. Transnistrian authorities harassed independent media and opposition lawmakers, restricted freedom of association and of religion, Transnistrian authorities have regularly harassed and often detained persons suspected of being critical of the regime for periods of up to several months. The Transnistria militia had reportedly explained they had detained the boys to clean the city of people before the December legislative elections. Alternative viewpoints were stifled by widespread censorship According to the same U. S. Department of State report for 2006, there was one independent weekly newspaper in Bender and another in the northern city of Rîbniţa. Separatist authorities harassed independent newspapers for reporting of the Transnistrian regime. Most television and radio stations and print publication were controlled by Transnistrian authorities, four schools of the six that taught the Moldovan language using Latin script were closed by the authorities, who claimed the schools refused to apply for official accreditation. The schools were later reopened amid pressure from the European Union, the OSCE mission to Moldova urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rîbniţa to return a confiscated building to the Moldovan Latin script school located in the city. The unfinished building was nearing completion in 2004, when Transnistria took control of it during that years school crisis, one of the most high-profile cases involved Ilie Ilaşcu, who was convicted in 1993 of killing two Transnistrian officials. He was initially sentenced to death by Transnistrias Supreme Court and this was repealed to a life prison sentence. Three other associates were sentenced to 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment, Ilaşcu was released in 2001, following a decision of the European Court of Human Rights, while the other three were released in 2004 and 2007 when they finished serving their sentences

13.
Politics of Moldova
–
The politics of Moldova takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, wherein the prime minister heads the government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament, the judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The position of the region of Transnistria, relations with Romania and with Russia. The Moldovan Parliament has 101 members, elected for a term by proportional representation. The president is elected for a term by parliament. The seat of the legislature is simply as the Parliament Building. In the 2010 Parliamentary election, the Communists won 42 seats, while the Liberal-Democrats won 32, the Democratic Party won 15, and this gave the Alliance for European Integration 59 seats, two short of the 61 needed to elect a President. The result thus maintained the status quo following the constitutional deadlock. Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe lauded the election, the president is elected by the Parliament for a four-year term. The cabinet is selected by prime minister-designate, subject to approval of parliament, the cabinet meets at Government House on Stephen the Great Boulevard in Central Chișinău. The underlying issue in The Republic of Moldova revolves around whether or not the country should reunite with Romania, with which it shares a common ethnicity, language, culture and history. Today Moldova is effectively bilingual, with a Romanian speaking majority, there is disagreement as to whether elections and politics in Moldova are carried out in a free and democratic climate on the part of certain organizations. Other critics have referred to the Communist Party government as being authoritarian. Nevertheless, George W. Bush stated that, We note and welcome Moldovas positive record since independence in conducting free and fair elections, there have also been reports of politically motivated arrests and arrests without valid legal grounds. Such arrests are allegedly carried out against opponents of the Communist Party government of President Vladimir Voronin, in one case which was criticized by various Western organizations and individuals, opposition politician Valeriu Pasat was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on dubious grounds. Moldova had successfully joined the World Trade Organization and the Southeast European Stability Pact in 2001, agreement in these areas was critical, because large government debts that were due in 2002 had to be rescheduled. The government has made concerted efforts to find ways to pay for Moldovas energy supplies, political parties and other groups publish newspapers, which often criticize government policies. There are several independent news services, radio stations, and an independent television station, peaceful assembly is allowed, though permits for demonstrations must be obtained, private organizations, including political parties, are required to register with the government

14.
Moldova
–
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian, Republica Moldova, listen, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878, Bessarabia remained a province of the Russian Empire until 1917, when during the Russian Revolution it became an autonomous and then nominally independent Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1918, following a vote of its assembly, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania, the decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924, created within the Ukrainian SSR, on a territory east of Bessarabia, a so-called Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, the Soviets decided to split the region between a newly established Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian SSR. The Moldavian SSR included two-thirds of the territory of Bessarabia, on 27 August 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994, the strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms, Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The name Moldova derives from the Moldova River, the valley of this served as a political centre at the time of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359. The origin of the name of the river remains unclear, the dogs name, given to the river, extended to the Principality. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova. Officially, the name Republic of Moldova is designated by the United Nations, in 2010, Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki that are 800, 000–1.2 million years old. This demonstrates that humans were present in Moldova during the early Paleolithic era. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, in antiquity, Moldovas territory was inhabited by Dacian tribes. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman, and then Byzantine Empires. The Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the west, the Dniester River in the east, and the Danube River and Black Sea to the south. Its territory comprised the territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight counties of Romania. Like the present-day republic and Romanias north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova, Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars and, beginning in the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, the title used in the document of 6 July 1600 was The King of the country of Romania, Ardeal and of all of Moldavia

15.
Eastern Europe
–
Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol

16.
Semi-presidential system
–
A semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of a state. There are two subtypes of semi-presidentialism, premier-presidentialism and president-parliamentarism. Under the premier-presidential system, the minister and cabinet are exclusively accountable to parliament. The president chooses the prime minister and cabinet, but only the parliament may remove them from office with a vote of no confidence, the president does not have the right to dismiss the prime minister or the cabinet. However, in cases, the president can circumvent this limitation by exercising the discretionary power of dissolving the assembly. This subtype is used in Burkina Faso, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. Under the president-parliamentary system, the minister and cabinet are dually accountable to the president. The president chooses the prime minister and the cabinet but must have the support of the parliament majority for his choice. In order to remove a prime minister or the cabinet from power. This form of semi-presidentialism is much closer to pure presidentialism and it is used in Armenia, Georgia between 2004 and 2013, Mozambique, Namibia, Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine between 1996 and 2005, and again from 2010 to 2014. It was used in Germany during the Weimarer Republik, as the regime between 1919 and 1933 is called unofficially. The powers that are divided between president and prime minister can vary greatly between countries and it is up to the president to decide, how much autonomy he leaves to his prime minister to act on his own. Semi-presidential systems may experience periods in which the President and the Prime Minister are from differing political parties. This is called cohabitation, a term originated in France when the situation first arose in the 1980s. In most cases, cohabitation results from a system in which the two executives are not elected at the time or for the same term. For example, in 1981, France elected both a Socialist president and legislature, which yielded a Socialist premier, but whereas the presidents term of office was for seven years, the National Assembly only served for five. When, in the 1986 legislative election, the French people elected a right-of-centre Assembly, however, in 2000, amendments to the French Constitution reduced the length of the French Presidents term from seven to five years. This has significantly lowered the chances of occurring, as parliamentary

17.
Republic
–
It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics

18.
Head of state
–
A head of state is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. In some countries, the head of state is a figurehead with limited or no executive power, while in others. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of models. An independent nation state normally has a head of state, the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature and it also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the head of state typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system, usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament. For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, so, Italy had a de facto parliamentarian system, but a de jure presidential system. These officials are excluded completely from the executive, they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, hence their states governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majestys Government or His/Her Excellencys Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist, the constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people and he is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan. Today, the Speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister, Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. In contrast, the contact the President of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, he or she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the court to test its constitutionality. The most extreme non-executive republican Head of State is the President of Israel, semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The constitution of the Fifth French Republic provides for a minister who is chosen by the president

19.
Head of government
–
The term head of government is often differentiated from the term head of state, as they may be separate positions, individuals, and/or roles depending on the country. In parliamentary systems, including constitutional monarchies, the head of government is the de facto leader of the government. For example, in the United Kingdom, the prime minister advises the Queen on the appointment of the cabinet, advice she is required to accept. On the other hand, the Queens long service as the head of state enables her to provide the prime minister with information and insight into many matters to better run the government. However, because the United Kingdom is a monarchy, the Prime Minister uses his or her own discretion regarding whether or not to follow the Queens advice. The Queen also is entitled to appoint a new Prime Minister, in presidential republics or in absolute monarchies, the head of state is also usually the head of government. The relationship between that leader and the government, however, can vary greatly, ranging from separation of powers to autocracy, in semi-presidential systems, the head of government may answer to both the head of state and the legislature, with the specifics provided by each countrys constitution. A modern example is the present French government, which originated as the French Fifth Republic in 1958, in France, the president, the head of state, appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government. In some cases, the head of state may represent one political party, in this case, known as cohabitation, the prime minister, along with the cabinet, controls domestic policy, with the presidents influence is largely restricted to foreign affairs. In directorial systems, the executive responsibilities of the head of government are spread among a group of people, a prominent example is the Swiss Federal Council, where each member of the council heads a department and also votes on proposals relating to all departments. A common title for many heads of government is prime minister, various constitutions use different titles, and even the same title can have various multiple meanings, depending on the constitutional order and political system of the state in question. In addition to prime minister, titles used for the democratic model, some of these titles relate to governments below the national level. Have been used by various Empires, Kingdoms and Princely States of India as a title for the Prime Minister, maltese, In Malta, the head of government is Prim Ministru. In this case, the prime minister serves at the pleasure of the monarch, some such titles are diwan, mahamantri, pradhan, wasir or vizier. However, just because the head of state is the de jure dominant position does not mean that he/she will not always be the de facto political leader, in some cases, the head of state is a figurehead whilst the head of the government leads the ruling party. In some cases a head of government may even pass on the title in hereditary fashion, the ability to vote down legislative proposals of the government. Control over or ability to vote down fiscal measures and the budget, all of these requirements directly impact the Head of governments role. Many parliamentary systems require ministers to serve in parliament, while others ban ministers from sitting in parliament, heads of government are typically removed from power in a parliamentary system by Resignation, following, Defeat in a general election

20.
Legislature
–
A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7

21.
Government
–
A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an administration in American English, finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance. In the case of its broad definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of governance, refers to the set of political systems. Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways, in political science, it has long been a goal to create a typology or taxonomy of polities. as typologies of political systems are not obvious. It is especially important in the science fields of comparative politics. On the surface, identifying a form of government appears to be simple, the United States is a constitutional republic, while the former Soviet Union was a socialist republic. However self-identification is not objective, and as Kopstein and Lichbach argue, for example, elections are a defining characteristic of an electoral democracy, but in practice elections in the former Soviet Union were not free and fair and took place in a one-party state. Voltaire argued that the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, many governments that officially call themselves a democratic republic are not democratic, nor a republic, they are usually a dictatorship de facto. Communist dictatorships have been prone to use this term. For example, the name of North Vietnam was The Democratic Republic of Vietnam. China uses a variant, The Peoples Republic of China, thus in many practical classifications it would not be considered democratic. Experience with those movements in power, and the ties they may have to particular forms of government. For example, The meaning of conservatism in the United States has little in common with the way the words definition is used elsewhere, as Ribuffo notes, what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism. Since the 1950s conservatism in the United States has been associated with the Republican Party. However, during the era of segregation many Southern Democrats were conservatives, values are sorted from 1–100 based on level of democracy and political accountability

22.
Unicameralism
–
In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015

23.
Yevgeny Shevchuk
–
Yevgeny Vasylyevich Shevchuk is a former President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, better known as Transnistria. He was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Transnistria from 2000 until his election as president in 2011, furthermore, he was speaker of Pridnestrovian Supreme Soviet from 2005 to 2009, and the leader of the opposition party Renewal until 2010. Shevchuk is an ethnic Ukrainian and a citizen of both Transnistria and Russia, born in Rybnitsa, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union, Yevgeny Shevchuk is a lawyer who has worked in government and private business. His biography profile describes him as social democratic technocrat with a European outlook, as part of the minority opposition in parliament prior to December 2005, he spearheaded a reform drive by his party to introduce changes to Transnistrias electoral code. This was reported in the United States State Departments Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005, after that the European Parliament banned Shevchuk from entry to the EU countries. On 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned from his post as speaker of parliament, Anatoliy Kaminski, who was vice-speaker under Shevchuk and is vice chairman of Shevchuks Renewal party, was the only nominee to succeed him. Mikhail Burla, leader of Renewal and Chairman of the Committee for economic policy, budget, Shevchuk cited a controversial attempt to revise the countys constitution by president Igor Smirnov as the main reason for his resignation. In December 2011, Shevchuk was elected president of Transnistria and he won the first round of the presidential elections on 11 December, polling higher than either the sitting president Igor Smirnov or the Kremlin-backed Supreme Soviet chairman Anatoliy Kaminski. He then won the round of voting with over 75% support on 25 December. He was inaugurated on 30 December 2011, on May 9,2016, Shevchuk was quoted as stating that I am sure that sooner or later we will be a united country with Russia

24.
Renewal (Transnistria)
–
Renewal or Renovation, is a political party in Transnistria. Since the legislative elections of 2005 it is the majority party in the Transnistrian Parliament, in the legislative elections of 10 December 2000, Renewal won 7 out of 43 seats. The organization improved on 11 December 2005 to win 23 of those 43 seats and it was officially registered as a full political party in June 2006. The original name of the party, in Russian, is Obnovleniye which can interchangeably be translated as either Renovation, the party itself and most foreign press prefers the latter translation, Renewal. The partys leaders in parliament during 2005 were Mikhail Burla and Yevgeny Shevchuk, the latter was elected speaker of parliament following the partys sweeping December 2005 win. There was a debate regarding the position of Renewal in regards to Transnistrian president Igor Smirnov, however, others claim that the interests of the Smirnov clan are represented in all political movements of Transnistria, including Renewal. Renewal strengthened their majority in the 2010 elections to 25 seats, in the 2011 presidential election, deputy party chairman Anatoliy Kaminski ran against incumbent Smirnov and Shevchuk, who ran as an independent. Shevchuk defeated Kaminski in the run-off, as on 2013 Renewal holds majority in the Supreme Council of Transnistria and is in mild opposition to the current President Yevgeny Shevchuk. On 25 December 2012 the Supreme Council voted against the project of the budget proposed by the government. Thus Transnistria is currently functioning without adopted state budget for the first time in its history, in spite of attempts to find compromise and formation of the joint commission to resolve conflict, these attempts did not lead to any results. Renewal, Pridnestrovies reformist opposition party Obnovlenie. info

25.
Igor Smirnov
–
Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov is a Transnistrian politician, the first president of the internationally unrecognized Eastern-European country Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic. Igor Smirnov was born in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union during World War II and he was the son of Nikolai Stepanovich Smirnov, a worker within the Soviet Communist Party apparatus and Zinaida Grigorevna Smirnova, a journalist and newspaper editor. As the Party promoted Nikolai Stepanovich to ever more important positions, the family moved from Petropavlosk to the Ukrainian SSR, the Smirnovs initially benefited from Nikolai Stepanovichs successes—he reached the position of First Secretary of the Golopristanskiy Raion committee in Soviet Ukraine. However, in the summer of 1952 Nikolai Stepanovich was arrested for irregularities in supply distribution among the Raions collective farms and he was sentenced to fifteen years in the Soviet forced labor camps with a following period of five years internal exile. As the family of an enemy of the people, life was difficult for Zinaida Grigorevna, in the wake of Joseph Stalins death in 1953, Nikolai Stepanovich was released together with many Soviet inmates. In 1959, Igor Smirnov began work at the Zlatoust Metallurgical Factory at the age of eighteen, soon, however, he moved back to Ukraine to work on the construction of a new hydroelectric power station in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Oblast. Smirnov displayed a great enthusiasm for Soviet life, pursuing education in the evenings and weekends after work and participating in a number of athletic. He met and married an engineer named Zhannetta Nikolaevna Lotnik in the early 1960s. In 1963, Smirnov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, once back from the military, Smirnov also continued the correspondence courses he had begun in the early 1960s, receiving a degree from the Zaporizhia Machine-Building Institute in 1974. Meanwhile, he worked his way up from the floor to be an assistant director of one of the shops of the Novaia Kakhovska Machine-Building Factory. With his college diploma, Smirnov continued to be promoted and he soon became the shop director, then assistant to the factorys chief industrial upgrades and new technologies engineer and finally an assistant director. While he was not made director in 1987 when that positions erstwhile occupant retired, as communist states began to collapse at the end of the 1980s, people in some areas of the Soviet Union began to demand sovereignty for separate national identities. One side believed that Moldova should be independent from the Moscow Kremlin and turned into a nation-state, the other believed that Moldova should remain a part of the supranationalist USSR, possibly in a post-communist, but still united country. When the strike campaign, from August 16 to September 22,1989, failed to produce much of an effect in Chişinău, Smirnov and others saw the upcoming Moldovan elections as an opportunity to effect change through different means. Once in the city soviet, Smirnov ran for chairmanship of that body, in a dramatic demonstration of how much the Communist Partys power had waned, Smirnov beat his challenger, the First Secretary of the citys Party Committee, Leonid Tsurkan, by a 2-to-1 margin. From this time forward, Tiraspol was an OSTK-controlled city, things did not go quite as smoothly for Igor Smirnov in the Moldovan Supreme Soviet. The OSTK candidates, mostly from Transnistria in the eastern periphery, were a small fraction of the bodys overall membership—approximately 15 percent. In May 1990, these Transnistrian Supreme Soviet deputies were attacked and beaten by pro-independence protesters, Igor Smirnov emerged as a leader of the OSTK on a regional level as Transnistrian politicians and activists worked towards sovereignty from the Moldovan SSR in the summer and fall of 1990

26.
Pridnestrovie Communist Party
–
The Pridnestrovie Communist Party, also spelled Pridnestrovian Communist Party, is a communist party in Transnistria. The Pridnestrovie Communist Party is the successor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was banned for part of the 1990s and its leader is Oleg Khorzhan, who has been called young and dynamic by Olvia Press, in contrast to the conservative Communist Party of Pridnestrovie headed by Vladimir Gavrilchenko. Although it fielded candidates for parliament in the elections of 11 December 2005. It supports independent statehood for Transnistria and opposes the administration of president Yevgeny Shevchuk, nadezhda Bondarenko, editor of the party newspaper Pravda Pridnestrovya and member of the central committee, was its candidate for the December 10,2006 presidential election. She received 8. 1% of the vote, second to Smirnov, Khorzhan and Bondarenko were arrested on March 11,2007, when handing out leaflets ahead of an anti-Smirnov rally and sentenced to three-days detention as an administrative punishment. On March 13, a Communist demonstration took place in Tiraspol against growing consumer prices and energy tariffs, Communist Party of Pridnestrovie Party Website

27.
Proriv (Transnistria)
–
Kmara and other participants of colour revolutions in the post-Soviet states. Originally, it was founded in 2005 as a youth organization part of the international pro-Russian Proriv organization. A year later, on June 2,2006, the Transnistrian branch of Proriv formally registered itself as a political party and it uses yellow as its political color, and the famous B&W photo of Communist guerrilla fighter Che Guevara as a symbol. It is associated with the Che Guevara High School for Political Leadership in Tiraspol and its head is Dmitriy Soin, a sociologist and former officer of the Transnistrian ministry of state security. Roman Konoplev, an obscure Russian publicist, took part in formulating ideological documents of the Party, the chairman of the party is Aleksandr Gorelovskiy, and the youth movement has a mostly slav female leadership, with Alena Arshinova at its head. According to newspaper reports, the organization is financed by Transnistrian authorities, and the mentor of the organisation is Dmitriy Soin, the organization supports the continuation of the republics independence which was declared on September 2,1990 and rejects any talk of potential reunification with Moldova. The organisation is very critical of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. During various political demonstrations of Breakthrough OSCE flags were replaced and Moldovan flags were burned, in the 2006 Transnistrian referendum, it opposed unification with Moldova, as did a reported 94% of the electorate

28.
Transnistrian presidential election, 1996
–
Presidential elections were held in the breakaway republic of Transnistria on 22 December,1996. They were won by the incumbent Igor Smirnov, who has ruled Transnistria since 1991, smirnovs only opponent was Vladimir Malakhov, who was beaten by Smirnov, 72% to 20%. On 2 November, it was reported that Transnistrias central electoral commission had registered two candidates for the election. Six others, including head of the Tiraspol city council Vitalii Glebov, were unable to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures, before the election, Malakhov claimed that his campaign was receiving unequal treatment from the media. He was considering withdrawing from the race, which would invalidate the election, however, the Parliament of Transnistria amended the constitution, so that Smirnov could get elected unopposed. Malakhov then decided to continue his campaign

29.
Transnistrian presidential election, 2006
–
The 2006 presidential election in Transnistria was held on December 10 of that year. Incumbent President Igor Smirnov won despite opposition having stiffened during the weeks of the campaign. Andrey Safonovs candidacy was at first rejected on the basis of insufficient and allegedly fraudulent signatures, the Commission finally allowed the candidacy on 5 December. Starting with 7 December, early voting was allowed for those persons for whom it was impossible to come to the polls on 10 December, andrey Safonov, one of the opposition candidates, suggested that election results were rigged in favour of the incumbent leader. He claimed that there was a difference between the exit polls results and the official results and proceeded to challenge the election results in court

30.
Transnistrian legislative election, 2005
–
Parliamentary elections were held in the breakaway republic of Transnistria on 11 December,2005. They were won by the Renewal, an NGO who, together with their allies, following its victory, in June 2006 Renewal was registered as a political party. Victory of Renewal allowed to change the speaker of the Supreme Council. On 28 December 2005 leader of Renewal Yevgeny Shevchuk was elected new speaker. According to PMR data, only 15 of the 43 members of its parliament were born in the PMR territory, while 4 others in the rest of Moldova, Igor Smirnov, the leader of PMR, arrived in the region in 1987. Most of the MPs who were born elsewhere had moved to the ten years or more before the conflict erupted. Olvia Press, List of elected MPs

31.
Transnistrian independence referendum, 1991
–
The 1991 referendum in Transnistria took place in Transnistria on 1 December 1991. On that date, Transnistria voted to continue its de facto independence and seek recognition as a separate, sovereign country. 97. 7% of those who came to the polls opted for separation from Moldova, in numbers,372,027 people took part in the referendum. Of those,363,647 people voted for independence of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, international observers were invited, including representatives of the US State Department. However, only representatives of the St. Petersburg city council accepted the invitation to participate, in the conclusion of the observers, the referendum was an expression of the true will Transnistrias population. The United States, which did not avail itself of the invitation to watch the referendum, Transnistria offered to hold it again, and indeed did so with the Transnistrian referendum,2006. History of creation and development of the Parliament of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic CEC data on referendum